Conflict Resolution
by Mustard Yellow Sunshine
Summary: Oneshot. Inuyasha and Kagome get some one on one time together. Clichéd waffiness of the pointless variety. You have been warned.


A/N

This takes place after the monkey sprite episode and before Kagome comes down with a cold and goes back to her time. A simple, completely pointless and plot-less one-shot (not to mentioned obscenely cliché)… because I was craving familiar, lovable characters and fluff, and the story I'm working on right now has none and won't be getting any… ever. Ugh.

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"Dammit Kagome, are you listening to me?"

Kagome grit her teeth in pure irritation as she made her away along the forest path, trying her best not to snap and drop the raging hanyou behind her like a rock. Though now that she thought about it, it was a rather pleasant idea. Let him eat dirt! At least then he'd be too busy spitting it out of his mouth to keep up his barrage.

The silver haired youth was apparently unaware of the growing ire of the teenage girl he was tailing and continued on his tirade. "As if it ain't bad enough that Naraku's disappeared and there haven't been any jewel shard rumors in ages, now you decide to up and leave for your time? Where are your priorities!"

Kagome's eye began to form a tic, and she knew she was losing the battle to keep her anger in check. "Look Inuyasha," she sighed, "Sango and Miroku were injured pretty badly in yesterday's battle, so we won't be going anywhere for awhile. Besides, I haven't been home in ages and I need to make an appearance at school. It's not as if I'm holding us up by going home."

Inuyasha growled and lifted his chin stubbornly while stuffing his arms up the sleeves of his haori. "Every time you go back there, you dawdle and I end up having to bring you back. It's nothing but a huge waste of time, what's the point of going?"

Arg! Must… not… lose it… Kagome inhaled deeply and tried mentally counting to ten. When she trusted herself to speak, she said, "It may seem like a waste of time to you, but it's not. I have a life there too, you know. If I don't go to school I might as well kiss any chances of a future goodbye."

Inuyasha scowled at her back as they reached the clearing the bone eaters well stood in. _A future that doesn't include me. Is she really that eager to leave us behind?_ He snorted at his own thoughts. He was getting soft. Most likely Kagome's doing.

Swinging her legs over the side of the well and adjusting her heavy yellow backpack into a more comfortable position, Kagome waved at Inuyasha. "I'll be back in a few days. See you later!"

"Oi!" Inuyasha grabbed Kagome by the back of her shirt and hauled her up just as she started falling down the time slip. "I didn't say you could go!"

She frowned at him, "I don't need your permission to visit my _home_, Inuyasha. Now let go. The sooner I leave the sooner I can come back."

He glared at her, "It's not a matter of asking, because you ain't going. I told you, I don't want to have to haul your sorry ass back here when you forget to come back."

Kagome gave a glare to match his own and barely contained a growl of frustration. _I've been hanging around Inuyasha too long._ "I told you I'd be back in a few days! If you don't let me down soon, I'll say it Inuyasha, I mean it."

"You wouldn't dare."

"1…"

"Nice try, wench, but it won't work."

"…2…"

"Keh!"

"…3!"

"Your lips are flapping but I'm not hearing anything."

"SIT BOY!"

With a satisfying thud and a noise suspiciously akin to a yip, Inuyasha's face made impact with the ground beneath him, causing him to lose his grip on the schoolgirl's uniform in the process. Blue light emanated from inside the well as Kagome's scent all but disappeared. Struggling against the spell his thrice cursed rosary used to hold him down, Inuyasha muttered a few choice words to himself. _She's a sadist, that's all there is to it._

Pulling himself up to his knees, Inuyasha growled at the decrepit well, as if it were the source of all his problems. In a way, it was. "Nice try, Kagome," the hanyou muttered under his breath as he got to his feet and hopped down the well after the young girl. "Like I'm going to let you get away with that."

As blue light once again shone from inside the well, signaling Inuyasha's departure, a soft snicker was heard from a bush nearby before a face topped with a mat of red hair popped out from among the leaves.

Shippo sighed, shaking his head in obvious amusement. "Inuyasha will never grow up."

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Kagome sighed contentedly as she eased herself into the steaming bubble bath. The first thing she had done once she had landed on her side of the well was race inside and run a nice bath. She had at least a week's worth of dust and grime to wash off, thanks to a youkai encounter she, Inuyasha, Miroku, Sango, Shippo and Kirara had had the other day. A snake youkai. Kagome shuddered. The disgusting creature had, at one point, lashed out at her with its tail, sending her flying a good distance, leaving a fairly large bruise on her lower back in its wake. Inuyasha had been furious and sliced the reptile in half with Tetsusaiga right after. Kagome wasn't sure whether to be happy that Inuyasha was so upset about her possibly being hurt, or disappointed that she hadn't been able to finish it off with a purifying arrow. It would have made her feel better, that's for sure. Unfortunately, before Inuyasha finished it off, the youkai had been able to injure Sango and Miroku. The beast had moved to bite Sango with its poisonous fangs, and Miroku, trying to shield Sango from the blow, had stepped in front of her and taken the brunt of the attack. The fang was so long it had been able pierce both of them, running right through Miroku's shoulder to inject Sango with its poison. Thankfully Inuyasha and Kirara had been able to get them to Kaede in time for her to give them treatment. The old priestess said it would take them at least two to three weeks for Sango to recover and even longer for Miroku.

I'll have to remember to pack some medical supplies before I go back. Frowning in worry, Kagome shook her head to clear it of such depressing thoughts and squeezed some shampoo into her palm.

Upon entering the kitchen earlier, Kagome had found a note left for her by her mother. She and Ji-chan were out for the day, visiting friends and neighbors who were sick or in want of company, while Sota stayed the night at a friend's house. Kagome loved her family dearly, but she enjoyed the prospect of having the house to herself. Peace, quiet and time to relax was very rare, especially in the Feudal Era, where she spent the majority of her time, so she planned on milking this for all it was worth.

Kneading her temple with nimble fingers, rubbing in her shampoo, Kagome suddenly understood why cats purred so much when petted. She was sure if she had the capacity, she'd be doing it too. _I wonder if that's why Inuyasha purrs when I rub his ears._ Giggling at the mental image that conjured, Kagome dunked her head underneath the water to clear away the lather.

Before she even had time to finish rinsing her hair, she heard a muffled bang and a shout. Popping out from underneath the water and suds, Kagome gasped as her startled gaze landed on the golden eyes of a rather disgruntled hanyou standing in the open doorway.

She could practically see the wheels turning in his head as he froze, shoulders tensing as his eyes went wide.

Shrieking, Kagome crossed her arms over her chest, desperately trying to retain some modesty, and sunk further into the water. "Inuyasha! GET OUT!"

The next thing the shell-shocked boy knew, a bar of soap was flying at his head. Taking this as his cue to leave, Inuyasha flung himself out of the room and practically slammed the door closed in his hurry to get out of range in case any more projectiles took to the air.

"What in the _world_ did you come barging in here for!" Kagome's muffled voice yelled from inside the bathroom. "I can't believe you!"

Sagging against the door, Inuyasha heaved a sigh as the smacking sound of wet footsteps on tile made its way to his ears. She was getting out of the bathtub, probably to give him a better tongue lashing. _I'm going to have a hell of a time getting that image out of my head._ Collecting himself as best he could, he growled through the door, "It's not as if I enjoyed it either! Why didn't you tell me you were in there!"

"I was underwater you baka! I couldn't hear you!"

"Feh!"

The door he was braced against suddenly jerked open and he was hard put not to topple over backwards. Thankfully he was able to keep his balance. Whipping around, ready to berate the girl for being so thoughtless, he froze again, words dying on his tongue.

There Kagome stood, shooting him a murderous glare that would've curdled milk, clad in nothing but a fluffy white towel that did not leave much to the imagination. _Damn it… she's trying to kill me_, Inuyasha thought with a grimace.

Oblivious to her companion's discomfort, Kagome stepped close to him, poking a finger in his chest, standing on tiptoe to get better leverage and hopefully intimidate him more than she otherwise would, being a head shorter than him. "First you invade my privacy and then you insult me? If that's all you came here to do then you'd better leave!" Pushing past him, Kagome stomped down the hall towards her bedroom, slamming the door shut behind her.

Inuyasha's ears clamped down on his head as he frowned. _Shit, now she's mad. Does she have any idea how disorienting it is to walk in on her…? _he blushed, not even able to finish the thought. Obviously Kagome had no clue. And he'd be damned if he told her, either.

Sighing, Inuyasha slipped his hands into his sleeves and walked towards Kagome's closed bedroom door, leaning against the wall, settling in for a long wait.

He was surprised when the door swung open after only a few minutes and Kagome, now fully dressed in one of her school uniforms and carrying a pile of books under one arm, walked right past him without so much as a glance and headed down the stairs.

Blinking for a moment in confusion, he growled quietly before following her.

He found her in the kitchen at the table, sitting in front of an open book, reading intently. Inuyasha scowled. _Not those damn school books again… _

Hunkering down next to her, he poked her shoulder. "Oi! I didn't come here to watch you study you know."

Kagome shot him a withering look before focusing her attention on the chemistry book laying in front of her. "Why did you come here then, Inuyasha?"

She didn't even have to look up to know he had a pout on his face. "I came to make sure _you _remembered to come back."

Kagome sighed, "I always come back, you know that baka."

He chose not to reply.

Sighing again, Kagome tried to mentally prepare herself for a long and trying evening.

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_2C8H18 (g) + 25O2 (g) >16CO2 (g) + 18H20 (g)_

_What in the…? _

Maybe starting off with chemistry had been a bad idea.

It had been almost two hours and Kagome felt like she hadn't gotten anywhere. All she had was a headache and a very strong urge to throttle the hanyou sitting next to her who had been boring holes into the side of her head ever since she started studying.

After half an hour of staring at one page and rereading the same sentence over and over yet getting no closer to soaking it in, Kagome had discarded her chemistry book in favor of history. She had finished that in ten minutes flat, and had moved on to algebra, almost breezing through it thanks to the notes Yuka had lent her the last time she had attended school. Now she was back to chemistry, feeling more confused and frustrated the more she tried to understand the chemical formula she was staring at.

I don't care what Ms. Kameko says; I'm never going to use chemistry in real life.

"Is it hard?"

"Huh?" Glancing up from her textbook, Kagome turned her attention to Inuyasha, who had a somewhat puzzled frown on his face as he stared at her.

"Your school and the work you do there. Is it hard?"

Tilting her head to the side slightly in confusion at the random question, Kagome watched him for a moment before shrugging. "Yeah, sometimes. It wouldn't be half so bad if I were able to study more often."

To her complete surprise, Inuyasha's ears drooped as he dropped his gaze to his lap. She didn't miss the troubled look in his eyes. Now she was really confused. "Inuyasha, are you okay?"

Said boy sighed. Though Kagome probably thought otherwise, he hadn't been watching her so closely to annoy her. He had actually been sort of interested in seeing the kind of things she did when she was in her own time. She was always complaining about school and missing out on study time when there was a lull in demonic activity in the Feudal Era. It seemed really important to her, no matter how many times he tried to explain to her that her place was in the past, with her friends, searching out new shards and rumors of Naraku's whereabouts. He never understood why her priorities were so screwed up. She must know how important it was that they find Naraku and get to the shards before he did. They couldn't afford to allow him to get much stronger. Miroku had tried to explain to him once that Kagome had a life before falling down the well and would most likely want to return to it once everything was settled in the past. Inuyasha hadn't particularly liked that idea, so he had simply feh-ed it off. But try as he might, he couldn't get it out of his head. Miroku's voice wouldn't stop nagging him, telling him that Kagome would one day leave, and she'd be beyond his reach.

It wasn't long before he started to feel guilty about brushing off Kagome's "education," and though he tried to push down such ridiculous feelings, he began to wonder if maybe Kagome really did resent him for keeping her from building a life for herself in her time. He knew, of course, that she had feelings for him. That much was obvious and she didn't seem to mind showing it. But when it all boiled down to the inevitable choice she would have to make, which would she choose? What _was _more important to her? What was closer to her heart?

He had never put much thought into what would happen after they defeated Naraku. It took all his concentration just to deal with the present. Between battling demons on a daily basis, struggling to regain the lost shards of the Shikon Jewel and searching for Naraku, it hadn't really occurred to him that some day Kagome would disappear down the well for good. If the time slip still worked after everything was said and done. Would Kagome even be allowed home after the Jewel was purified? And would she hate him if she wasn't?

After some thought, Inuyasha had decided to go to Kagome's time and see what exactly was so important to her. And after watching her for nearly two hours, it was now quite obvious how important Kagome's schoolwork was to her, if the expression on her face and chewed up pencil in her hand were any indication.

Catching the concerned gaze Kagome was sending his way, Inuyasha lifted his eyes and shook his head. "It's nothing, don't worry about it."

Kagome obviously didn't believe him, but she didn't pursue the topic. Instead she stood up from her chair and smiled at him. "Would you like some Ramen?"

Blinking dumbly for a moment or too, Inuyasha nodded slowly, wondering what the catch was. Hadn't she been annoyed with him earlier?

He watched her as she bustled around the kitchen, filling the kettle with water and placing it on the stove. She pulled two styrofoam cups out of a cupboard Inuyasha knew was filled with his favorite noodles, and poured the boiling water into them. Glancing up and sending a smile his way, she walked over to the table and set down the two steaming cups. She then walked back into the kitchen to retrieve some chopsticks.

It wasn't until she was once again seated next to him, slurping up noodles and broth, that he realized just what a gaping hole Kagome's absence would leave in his life. She had become such a quintessential part of him, wormed her way into his life until he didn't even want to remember a time without her. She was his heart. It had happened so gradually that he couldn't place when things had changed so drastically. He couldn't even begin to imagine life without her, but the prospect was there.

The question was, what was he going to do about it?

Completely unaware of the serious thoughts the hanyou at her side was having, Kagome continued to eat, keeping her eyes on the table. To be frank, she had been zoning out. She had gone through the motions of chewing and swallowing quite instinctually, while her mind brooded over her homework dilemma. That chemistry sheet was due tomorrow, when Ms. Kameko would then have them mix the formulas they had balanced with real chemicals to see if they had done them correctly. Kagome was sure she wouldn't get a passing grade if her formula blew up in her face.

As she slurped down the rest of her Ramen, she noticed Inuyasha out of the corner of her eye, and what she saw was enough to make her give him her full attention while thoughts of grades and chemical formulas flew right out the window.

She couldn't remember the last time Inuyasha's golden eyes had been so intense. They were molten pools, trying to convey something to her that she just couldn't see. She was absolutely transfixed by them, and so didn't notice when he also put down his Ramen cup, even though it was barely half eaten, and started leaning forward slowly, gaze intent and unwavering. She didn't realize what exactly he was doing until his hands had cupped her cheeks and he was pulling her face toward him.

Two things happened at once. Kagome's frozen brain finally registered what Inuyasha's intent was, and had sent a signal to her mouth to formulate some form of protest (even as her heart screamed at her to lean forward just a _little_ bit more and close that infernal gap between them). And Inuyasha's lips had fallen over hers rather firmly, cutting off whatever feeble excuse she had just opened her mouth to say.

It was like a bomb had just gone off in her stomach, igniting a fire that wen shooting through her veins in a heartbeat. Her heart pounded wildly in her chest, the beats growing stronger and stronger with each palpitation. Her eyes closed of their own accord and she couldn't repress the sigh that escaped from her throat. Kissing Inuyasha felt better than anything she could have ever imagined. It was exhilarating just as it was frightening; it was dreamlike just as it was real; it was intense just as it was soothing and affectionate.

Inuyasha's thoughts, though maybe less poignant than Kagome's, were running along the same lines. He wondered why he had never acted on this feeling before.

When they finally pulled apart, they found that they were no longer sitting, but standing in each other's arms. Inuyasha rested his forehead against Kagome's and closed his eyes, trying to get a handle on his flyaway thoughts and emotions. He took a deep, steadying breath to relax himself.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome whispered, almost uncertainly. When he opened his eyes, he was staring into pools of chocolate that seemed almost dazed and glazed over. He couldn't help but smile.

"Inuyasha," she tried again, "what…?"

"I just… needed to do that."

The blush that spread across her cheeks was quite cute. _But I can always enjoy myself later. I've got to get this settled before I go crazy. _

"Kagome," he started gently, pulling away from her, but keeping a firm grip on her arms, "what do you plan to do once everything's over?"

Kagome blinked in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, what are you going to do once we've completed the Shikon no Tama? Are you going to… stay here in your time?" He swallowed the lump that had risen in his throat on instinct and watched her closely for her reaction.

To his surprise, she smiled at him, and he found his insides warming despite himself. "Is that what you were so worried about before? Me leaving for good?"

The laughter and dismissive tone in her voice threw him for a loop, and he was hard pressed to contain the scowl that wanted to form out of pure surprise. "Why, is it so hard to believe I'd be worried about that?" When she giggled he grimaced and started to pull away from her completely. "You know what? Never mind."

She grabbed at his arm and tried to tug him back. "No, don't go Inuyasha, I'm sorry! I was just surprised, that's all."

"Keh."

"It's just that I thought you knew by now what my choice was. I made it a long time ago, Inuyasha."

His breath caught in his throat, and he saw the answer he had been seeking staring out at him from her eyes. He didn't need the reassurance of her words but appreciated them all the same when she said, "I'll always stay with you, Inuyasha. Always."

He smiled at her, a small but genuine smile that touched Kagome to the very core. She smiled back at him, and he felt, for the first time in a long while, content and peaceful. He no longer had the prospect of a Kagome-less future in front of him, and suddenly he felt as if he had all the time in the world to get back to the shards and Naraku. As long as Kagome was by his side, he could deal with whatever came his way, even if it was just one day at a time.

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**A/N**

Finite.

There is something to be said for all those old, lovable clichés. ;) And writing something with absolutely no plot for once was kind of refreshing.

Review if you're not totally disgusted with me.


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